Days That Bind Us
by Pineapple Moon
Summary: Hospitals are stupid, Jess decides. They have dumb policies like family only after nine. If he wants to keep Lorelai from killing him and hiding his body, he needs to find a way past this nurse so he can see Rory. Good thing his lying is up to par. Sequel to We Think, By Golly, He Might Do It. Second installment in the series.


' _Another day done, only twenty-seven left to go.'_ Jess thinks as he enters the diner after school. This school year could not be moving any slower. At this point when he's feeling this restless, he would be skipping class to go do his own thing, but he can't now. Sure, he _could_ still, security at that school is a joke, but some traitorous part of his brain keeps thinking how disappointed Luke would be.

Plus, now he has people at school that would actually notice that he's not there. Yeah, it's only Dean and Lane, someone he's grown to like hanging around, but that's two more people then he's ever had before.

"Hey, how was school?" Luke asks, right on cue.

Jess only grunts in response, grabbing a plate and bringing it into the kitchen. "Hey! I wasn't finished with that!" The guy at the table complains.

"Too bad, eat faster next time." Jess shoots back.

The man's face turns red, ready to yell back, when Luke steps in. "I'm sorry about that, I'll get you a replacement right away, and your bill's on the house." He smiles politely. "You, with me." He says through clenched teeth. He then grips Jess's shoulder tightly, dragging him to the storage room.

"Ow! Enough already!"

The smile vanishes from Luke's face as soon as they are in the privacy of the back room. "What the hell's the matter with you?" He crosses his arms. "I thought you had a good routine down."

"And that's just it. I do the same thing _every single day._ Get up, go to school, come home, work in the diner, go to bed, rinse and repeat. I'm so bored, I'm going stir crazy here!"

" _That's_ your problem? You're restless?" Luke questions.

"Yes!"

Luke nods, uncrossing his arms. "Okay, that's a simple fix."

"... It is?" Jess asks, a little hesitant.

"Yup. I was going to run some errands this weekend, but you can do them."

Jess rolls his eyes. "Seriously? That's all you got? You know Taylor still won't let me in the market."

"Oh yeah, did I not mention?" Luke leans forward with a little smile. "The errands are in Hartford."

Jess feels the grin grow on his face. "Really?"

Luke pulls the keys to the truck out of his pocket, but then pulls them out of Jess's reach at the last second. "Ground rules. You will obey every traffic law, not a mile above the speed limit."

Jess nods. "Uh-huh."

"If I call you, you _will_ answer. If I call when you are driving, you pull over the first chance you get and call me back within the second of you turning the car off. Are we clear?"

"Yup."

"And you have your phone with you?"

Jess pulls it out and shows him. "Just charged it last night."

"Good. You will be home no later than ten pm, understand?"

"Not a second after ten, got it. Can I go now?" Jess realizes how whiney he sounds, but there's a bookstore in Hartford that Rory told him about that he's been dying to visit, and the sooner he gets done with Luke's errands, the longer he can spend there.

Luke gestures with his head. "Go put your stuff upstairs while I make a list of what needs to be done, then you may go."

"Sweet, finally!" Jess snatches the keys and runs off to take his bag up.

Luke writes out the list on the back of an order form. He hesitates before deciding to leave a few things off the list. The kid deserves a break after all.

Just as he finishes he hears hurried steps coming down the stairs and then Jess appearing in front of the counter. Luke holds back the list. "You remember our conditions?"

"I have my phone, I'll have it on at all times, obey the speed limit, be back by ten. Can I go now?" Jess is practically vibrating where he stands.

"Get these done first, then you can do whatever you want." Luke says as he hands over the list.

"I will. Bye." He turns and runs for the door, nearly running down Lorelai in the process.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Lorelai asks, dodging him just in time.

"Sorry, no time, gotta go!"

"Be careful!" Luke calls out.

He runs out the door with a thumbs up and around the corner to where the truck's parked.

"What's got him in such a hurry? I don't think I've ever seen him move that fast before." Lorelai asks as she takes a seat at the counter.

Luke sets a mug in front of her and starts to fill it with coffee without being asked. "He has a bit of cabin fever, so I sent him to Hartford to run some errands for me."

"Jess alone in Hartford? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lorelai asks, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Better to keep him busy then cooped up here, terrorizing my customers. Now, what do you want?"

It's dark by the time Jess leaves the bookstore. He checks his watch, wincing at the time. With it being 9:40 already, he's going to have to step on it to make it back in time to meet Luke's curfew.

He jumps into the truck, his sack of books piled on top of the stuff he got for Luke. He turns the engine over and shifts into drive right as his phone starts to ring. With a sigh, he shuts off the truck and pulls out his phone. Leave it to Luke to just know that he's running late.

"Hey, Luke, I'm on my way back now. Don't worry, I was stopped at a gas station when you called." A little white lie never hurt anybody.

" _Jess? Please say you're still in Hartford."_

"Lorelai? No offence, but why are you calling _me?"_

Lorelai sniffs on the other line. " _Would you just answer the damn question?"_

"Um, yeah. I'm still in Hartford. Why, what's wrong? Did something happen? Is Luke okay?"

" _Rory was in an accident. She's okay, she was driving home from Chilton when she swerved to avoid a deer. She called me from the hospital. Luke and I are on our way now, and I know this is a lot to ask, but since you're already in Hartford-"_

"What hospital is she at?" Jess interrupts, looking around for any signs pointing towards a hospital.

" _Saint Vincent's. Thank you so much for this. We're still thirty minutes out and I just hate the idea of Rory there all alone and in pain. I paged Dean and he said he's on his way too, but he's also coming from Stars Hollow, so he has the same time frame as us, unless he invented teleportation since the last time I saw him, which, rude that he's not sharing. Sorry, I'm rambling, I tend to ramble when nervous and freaked out, which I totally am-"_

" _Get off the phone and let the kid drive, or we'll beat him to the hospital at this rate!"_ Jess hears Luke yell in the background.

" _Right, you probably heard that. I'll let you go."_

"Lorelai, I promise I'll call as soon as I lay eyes on her."

Lorelai sniffs again. " _Thanks, Jess."_

"No problem." He hangs up after that, starting the truck up again. He has a hospital to find.

Jess rushes up to the front desk. "Hi, I'm looking for Rory Gilmore, or she might be under Lorelai. Her real name is Lorelai, but she prefers Rory."

The lady glances up at him from her computer. "Sorry, no visitors after nine unless you're family."

"She's my sister." He lies easily. "Now will you tell me where she is already?"

"You're her brother?" She asks in disbelief. "Can I see some ID?"

Jess sighs in frustration, glancing off to the side. He spots a plaque naming some big donors for the hospital and an idea forms. "Listen," He looks at her name tag. "Susan. Do you know who our Grandparents are? The very same Emily and Richard Gilmore who are huge donors for this hospital. How do you think your boss will react when they find out you were the reason they lost a big donor, all because you wouldn't let me back to see my sister?"

Susan bites her lip and Jess can see the gears turning in her head. Finally, she sighs and starts typing on her computer. "She's in room 205. It's straight down that hall and to your right."

"Thank you, Susan." He smiles politely and heads off where she said to go. He finds the room quickly and knocks before entering. He hears Rory say come in quietly. She's in a hospital robe, sitting up on the exam table as a doctor looks at her left arm. "Hey, _Sis."_ He winks subtly, hoping she takes the hint.

She looks confused and shocked to see him. "Hey, Bro?" She plays along hesitantly.

Jess turns to the doctor, who's just finished. "So, what's the verdict, doc?"

"You're her brother I assume?" Jess nods. "Well, my name is Doctor Renards, and aside from a few scrapes and bruises, the worst is the wrist here. It's either broken or badly sprained, I'm going to need an x-ray to know for sure." Renards turns his attention to Rory. "A nurse will be in shortly to take you to radiology. For now, I'll leave the two of you alone."

The doctor shakes both their hands and they wait until he leaves the room. "Nice dress, I love the new look." Jess says, leaning against the wall, relieved that she's okay.

Rory glares at him. "What are you doing here, Jess? And why did you lie to them and say you're my brother? You could get in a lot of trouble if you get caught." She stage whispers at him.

"I was in Hartford doing some errands for Luke when your mom called. She and Luke are on their way, but she wanted someone to be with you since they're still another twenty-five minutes out."

"That still doesn't explain why I suddenly gained a new brother."

"Would you almost hitting a deer make you a dick to deers, or do you just really hate trees?" Jess ponders, avoiding the subject.

"Tell me right now, or I'll start screaming." Rory threatens. By the look in her eye, she would.

Jess rolls his eyes. "The lady at the front desk wouldn't let me back here unless I was a family member. I'd rather lie and face the consequences with them than face Lorelai's wrath for not following the one instruction I was given by her."

It's Rory's turn to roll her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, my mom isn't that bad. She's not like Mrs. Kim."

"That's because Mrs. Kim is on a whole different level of crazy. The only reason I'm even able to get within one hundred feet of Lane is because her mom thinks Jess is short for Jessica." Rory snorts. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."

"Sorry. It just reminded me, back when you cleaned our gutters, I had to talk my mom out of calling you Tess."

He meanders over, sitting down next to her. "Go ahead, laugh. I can tell you're dying to. And while you do that I'll just keep the book I got for you."

"No! I'm sorry, I won't laugh. Now gimme." She makes grabby hands at him with just the one hand since the other is in a temporary sling.

"I don't know…" He smirks at her pout. He fakes a sigh. "Fine." He shifts, pulling a book out from his back pocket. "I noticed this was missing from your shelf."

Rory's eyes light up. "Jess, thank you so much! I've been looking for this forever!"

He shrugs and looks down, picking at his jeans. "It's nothing. I remembered you mentioning it on the phone once so when I saw it at the bookstore I figured you would want it."

The moment gets ruined when Rory's pager goes off. She sends him an apologetic smile as she sets the book down and checks her pager. "It's Dean. He stopped for gas and is fifteen minutes out." She gasps. "Oh my gosh, what am I going to tell Dean? He spent so long building me that car and I went and totalled it. He's going to hate me."

"Dean's not going to hate you." Jess says right away. "In the little time I've gotten to know him, I can promise you that he's only worried about you, not some dumb car. In the small chance that he is mad, then I'll beat him up myself."

"Careful there, Jess, you're starting to sound like you care." she smirks.

"Just keeping up with my big brother duties." He says sarcastically.

There's a soft knock on the door, then a nurse enters. "Hi, Rory, I'm here to take you to get your wrist x-rayed, if you're all set?"

She hops down from the table, handing him her book for him to hold. "Lead the way." she turns to Jess, who's stayed where he is. "Stay out of trouble."

He rolls his eyes. "Its like you don't know me at all."

"I _do_ know you, that's why I'm telling you to stay out of trouble."

"Ouch, you wound me. Excuse me, nurse, can you scan her chest while you're at it, check to see that black hole where her heart should be?"

Rory sticks her tongue out at him like she's two. So naturally, he returns the favor. The nurse chuckles at their antics. "You can wait here, I'll bring her back in about ten minutes."

He waves his hand. "Nah, you can keep her. Just make sure you feed her constantly or she gets really cranky."

The nurse chuckles again, leading Rory out into the hall. "Oh, you two are a hoot."

Jess hangs his head with a sigh after she leaves. After a pause, he pulls out his phone. "Hey, Lorelai. Yeah, I just saw her, she's fine. They just took her back to get her wrist x-rayed."

When they get to the x-ray room, the nurse helps Rory get out of the temporary sling. "Are you two twins? You seem pretty close in age." The nurse asks, making conversation.

"Wha-" Rory falters, forgetting Jess's lie from earlier for a moment. "Oh, Um, yeah. He's four minutes older than me though, so he tends to get a little overbearing at times." Close enough. Technically, Jess is four _months_ older than her, but that would be impossible if they were real siblings. Although she could say they're half siblings that share a dad, but she doesn't want to make this dumb lie any more complicated than it already is.

"He's probably just worried about you. I have an older brother and if he heard I was in an accident he would be over the moon with worry."

"You really think he was worried?"

The nurse helps Rory into a lead coat. "I know so. I heard from another nurse that he wasn't going to take no for an answer until he saw you were okay. Even threaten to call your grandparents."

Rory's eyes widen. "Really? He did that?"

"Yup. Now hold still for me as I go in that other room and get the imaging done."

Jess lays back on the table as he waits for Rory to get back. It's been about fifteen minutes now and he's beginning to get really bored. He would read the book he got for Rory, but it's one of those books full of poems and he's not _that_ bored yet. Pulling out his phone again, he starts tossing it into the air and catching it.

Without warning, the door swings open quickly, almost making him drop his phone. "Jeez, ever learn to knock?" He scowls.

Lorelai's face drops when she only sees him in the room. "Where's Rory?"

"Still off getting her wrist x-rayed. Should be back any minute now." Jess sits up, arms holding up his legs at the knees as he fiddles with his phone.

"Oh." She sits on one of the chairs, putting her purse in her lap.

"Yep."

They sit in an awkward silence, the only noise in the room from the crinkling of the paper on the table as Jess shifts.

"How'd you get back here?" She speaks first.

"By walking. Been able to do it since I was eleven months old."

"No smart-ass. I meant back here as in to see Rory. That lady at the desk was very serious about only family, Luke and Dean are stuck out in the waiting room."

"Yeah, Susan's a regular Nurse Ratched."

Lorelai closes her eyes and takes a breath. "Jess, I'm not in the mood for jokes. Just answer my question."

Jess shrugs. "I said Rory's my sister."

"So you lied?"

"You were very clear you wanted someone to be with her. One little lie isn't going to hurt anyone."

Jess can tell Lorelai agrees with him. "Rory must have hated that. She's a stickler for the rules." She settles on.

"I noticed. You sure she's not adopted?"

"Trust me, I've asked myself the same question many times."

This time, their silence is cut short by a knock at the door and then Rory and the nurse from earlier returning.

"Mom!" Rory runs to her mom.

Lorelai jumps up, dumping her purse into a protesting Jess's lap. "Hey, sweets, are you okay? How's your wrist?" She puts her hands on Rory's shoulders, looking her over.

"Hurts, but I'll be fine. I'm so sorry, that deer came out of nowhere and-"

"Hey," Lorelai cuts her off. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're alright."

"Hi, you must be the mom." The nurse holds out her hand to shake. "You have some great kids."

Jess scoots over so Rory can sit down next to him. Jess can tell Lorelai's forcing a smile as she glances at him. "Yup, they sure keep me on my toes."

"Yeah, twins can do that. The doctor will be here as soon as he's done looking at Rory's scans. It was nice meeting you all."

Lorelai nods. "You too." The smile leaves her face as soon as the nurse does. She raises a brow at Jess. "So, I have twins now? My doctor must have given me the really good stuff when I was in labor, because I only remember pushing one kid out of me that night."

Jess raises his hands. "Don't look at me. I never said we were twins."

"That was me." Rory confesses. "The nurse asked if we were twins since we look around the same age, and mathematically speaking we couldn't be siblings if we were only four months apart."

"She's got a point."

Lorelai points at him. "Zip it, mister, you've caused enough trouble tonight."

Jess mimics sipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key. "Mom, give him a break, he was just doing what you asked of him." Rory defends him. "Maybe he went about it the wrong way, but you have to give him points for trying."

Lorelai crosses her arms. "Fine. But I get full teasing rights after this. It is a mom's job to embarrass her kids after all."

Jess rolls his eyes, jumping down from the table. "I'll take this as my cue to leave, go update Luke and Dean on everything." He hands Lorelai back her purse.

She digs through it and pulls out a dollar. "Go get Mommy a coffee, will you?"

"I should have just stayed at the diner today." He mutters, but takes the bill anyway.

As soon as Jess entered the waiting area, Luke and Dean pounced on him with questions ranging from how Rory is doing to how he was able to get back there when the other two were denied entrance. Jess pulls them aside and out of hearing range from his oh so favorite nurse, and explained everything.

By the time he gets to the end of the story, Luke and Dean are fighting back grins. Jess rolls his eyes, expecting this response. "You two are the worst. I'm gonna go find a vending machine."

"No, Jess, wait. Just one more thing." Dean calls him back, still laughing a little. Jess turns back around and sticks his hands in his pockets. A grin splits on Dean's face again. "Did your mom say it was okay for you to get something from the vending machine?" Even Luke's shoulders shake with a suppressed laugh.

Jess points at them. "Seriously. You two, the worst."

After searching for what seems like forever, Jess finds a vending machine that works and gets a Snickers out of it. He eyes the coffee machine before sighing and heading over to it, getting three coffees.

With two coffees stacked on top of each other in one hand, one coffee in the other, and the Snickers bar in his coat pocket, he makes the careful balancing act back to Rory's room. With no hands free, he kicks the door lightly with his foot.

Lorelai opens the door with a gasp, stepping aside to let him in. "All for me? You shouldn't have."

Jess glares as he enters. "I didn't. _One_ is for you."

She sighs. "Fine." Lorelai takes the cup that's balancing at the top.

Jess hands one to Rory, watching as the doctor from earlier wraps her wrist. "So what's wrong with her wrist?"

"She got a hairline fracture from when her wrist hit the wheel. She has to wear a cast for two weeks and then we'll see from there."

"But she's okay? Her wrist will heal back to normal?"

Renards nods. "Given time, it'll heal completely." Jess nods, taking a sip of his coffee. The doctor turns to Rory. "I'll be right back, I just need to go grab a few things."

He exits the room, Jess right on his heel. "Hey, doc? I was just wondering, I know it's past time for visitors, but Rory's boyfriend is stuck out in the waiting room and he's really worried about her. Think you could make an exception, just this once, and let him see her?"

He thinks about it for a moment. "Because of hospital policy, I'd say no, but I do need to go to a different floor to get the rest of the supplies for the cast. It'll take me at least ten minutes. If I don't see him, nobody has to know." He winks.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"You got ten minutes." Jess says as he takes a seat next to Luke.

Dean's head shoots up. "What?"

"I got you ten minutes, doofus, don't waste them with me. She's in room 205."

Dean jumps up with a grin. "Thanks, man."

"Don't mention it. Seriously, you'll ruin my street cred." Dean's already gone out of earshot. Luke grins at him, making him shift. "What?" He snaps.

"That was a really nice thing you did."

Jess shrugs, setting his coffee on the table next to him and pulls out his candy bar. "I did it for Rory. She's worried Dean is mad at her for wrecking the car he built."

"Uh-huh. And it has nothing to do with how anxious Dean was to see Rory."

"He was? I didn't notice." Jess lies as he takes a bite.

"I'm proud of you. I'm not thrilled you lied to the hospital, but I'm glad you were there for Rory." Luke knocks his shoulder into Jess's.

"I can't hear you, I'm chewing." Jess says with his mouth full.

Luke frowns. "Please say that's not your dinner."

"It's not my dinner." He repeats.

"Jess, don't lie."

Jess shrugs with a swallow. "Which is it, tell you it's not my dinner or don't lie? Because I can't do both."

"Do you know how bad for you those are?" Luke starts to lecture.

"If they're so bad, then why are they oh so tasty?" Jess asks as he takes a sip of his coffee.

"Please say that's at least tea or decaf?" Jess stays silent. "Well?"

"You told me not to lie, I don't know how to answer." Jess makes sure to put on the most innocent face he can, causing his uncle to sigh and hang his head.

"You're impossible." He mutters.

They get back to Stars Hollow around midnight, everyone tired. Luckily tomorrow, or technically today Jess thinks, is saturday, so at least they don't have to get up early for school.

Around ten in the morning, Jess makes his way down to the diner where Luke is already working. "Hey, sleeping beauty, sleep well?" He asks as he passes by him.

Jess rubs his eye with a yawn. "No, but all the comotion down here woke me up."

"I still don't understand how you can sleep with your music blasting, but little noises wake you up."

"I'm a great mystery of science."

"Well Great Mystery of Science, think you can wipe some tables down?" Luke asks, tossing him a rag.

Jess catches it and does as he's told. "So," He says a few minutes later. "Has Rory been in yet?" He tries to sound casual.

By the look on Luke's face, he isn't buying it. "Not yet. They gave her some pain meds at the hospital, I'm sure they made her tired. Best let her sleep, that's suppose to help in the healing too, right?"

"Yeah, I think I've heard that somewhere." He pauses. "Listen, Luke, I'm gonna go out for a bit." He heads to the coffee machine, pouring some in three to-go cups.

"But you just got down here."

Jess exatrates a yawn and stretches. "But I'm still tired. I'm just gonna do a quick walk around the block to wake me up." He puts the coffees into a carrying tray so he doesn't have to balance them this time.

"Why are you taking three coffees?"

"It's just a three coffee kind of day. Can I go now, or would you like to go get the spot light out?"

"Fine. But come right back. And stay out of trouble."

He takes the coffees and heads for the door. "This is Stars Hollow, what trouble could I get into?"

"Want me to make a list?"

Jess rolls his eyes. "Later."

Jess walks past Gypsy's, wincing at the state of Rory's car. He's surprised she's not walking away with more than just a broken wrist. That thing is never seeing the light of day again, no matter how long Dean works on it.

Continuing on his way, he makes it to the Gilmore's, or the Crap Shack Rory once told him they named it, and walked up to the front porch. He knocks, not wanting to ring the doorbell and risk waking Rory up if she is asleep still.

Lorelai opens the door in her pj's, obviously not expecting him. "Jess? What are you doing here?"

He holds up the coffees as a peace offering. "I come bearing gifts."

"Thanks. I could get used to this." She takes one and steps aside. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but come in."

He follows her into the kitchen and eyes Rory's closed door as he sets the coffees on the table. "Rory's not here." Lorelai tells him. "She went to show Lane her cast, and then they were going to stop by Gypsy's since Dean is working right now."

Jess nods. He had forgotten Dean had gotten a job at Gypsy's soon after he quit from Taylor's place. He grabs one of the coffees to give his hands something to do.

"Jess, I wanted to thank you again for last night. For being there for Rory when I couldn't be. When she called me from the emergency room, I thought I was having a literal heart attack."

Jess shrugs, fiddling with the lid of his cup. "It was the least I could do. I was only five minutes away, it was nothing."

"Well it was not nothing for me. This may come as a shock, but I may have been wrong about you."

"And what's the shocking part?" He jokes, glancing up at her.

She gives him a flat stare. "I'm trying to be humble here, stop it."

"Sorry, my mistake."

"As I was saying, I may have jumped to conclusions about you a little too soon after I met you. These past few weeks, you've really stepped up with helping Dean and now this with Rory. I'm just starting to see past this punk attitude you give off." She waves a hand at him.

"Very elegant. You should be a wordsmith."

"I'm trying to offer a truce here. Blank slate, we start over, complete reset. Deal?" She sticks out her hand.

He eyes it, weighing his options. After a moment, he takes her hand. "Deal."

She grins. "Great! Hungry? I got some cold pizza from last night."

He slips off his coat and hangs it on the back of the chair before sitting down. "Not sure how well it'll go with coffee, but why not."

She gasp as she pulls the pizza box out of the fridge. "How dare you speak such blasphemy in this house. _Everything_ goes with coffee. Coffee and poptarts, coffee and cookies, coffee and-"

"I get the idea." Jess cuts her off. "Ten seconds into this truce and I've already made a mistake."

"Know the perfect way for you to make up for it?" She grabs a huge binder and drops it onto the table with a loud thud. "Rory was suppose to do this, but you can help instead."

Jess eyes the binder. "Jeez. I'm scared to ask, but with what?"

"See, the town does a movie night every year where we sit outside and watch a movie. For the past three years, Taylor's been showing _The Yearling."_

"The stupid deer movie from the forties?"

"The very same. I complained to him, like any sane person that's seen _The Yearling_ three years in a row, so he relinquished his movie picking crown to me. But then the next day he gave me this and said showing movies cost money, and these are the ones we get for free."

Jess sets down his pizza and pulls the binder closer, opening it to a random page. " _Words in the Moons._ Man fails in dream of becoming an astronaut so goes on road trip to rediscover himself. Funny cantina scene, where man meets the woman that later becomes his wife." Jess shifts his eyes up at her. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, how I wish I was. Keep reading, it gets worse."

Jess turns to a different page. " _Seventh Girlfriend._ Funny romcom where man is cursed to marry his seventh girlfriend. If they try to break up they both _die?_ God, no wonder Taylor let you have this so easily, all of these sound terrible. How can there be _this_ many movies that are that bad?"

"And we get to read every single one of those horrible movie synopsis and pick the least bad of the bunch."

Jess sighs, pushing himself up. "I'll get more coffee started."

"I'll go order more food. Al's good?"

"Is he still doing his mexican theme?"

Lorelai thinks for a moment. "I believe he is."

"Cool. His tamales are pretty good."

"Al's it is then."

Luke waits an hour, then two, then three. At the four hour mark he gives up. "Caesar, I'll be back in ten!"

What on earth has Jess so distracted that he's gone for over four hours? He knows it's not Rory, she along with Lane and Dean were just at the diner and they said they haven't seen him all day.

Halfway to Lorelai's, he runs into Rory on her way home. "Hi, Luke. Looking for Jess still?"

"Yeah, thought I'd check with your mom first before sending out the amber alert."

She nods. "Good plan."

When they make it to the house and Rory opens the door, letting him in. "Mom? You here?" She calls out.

"In here, babe!" Lorelai answers from the living room.

The two enter to find the room a mess. Take-out boxes cover the coffee table, Lorelai is lounging on a chair with her feet up on the coffee table, and Luke's missing nephew is dosing across the couch.

Luke hits his feet since they're closer to him. That startles him awake, nearly causing him to drop the stack of papers on his chest. "Hey, when I said come right back, I meant sometime today. What're you two doing anyway?"

Rory gasps, interrupting Jess before he could answer. "Oh, man, I totally forgot! We were gonna pick the movie for movie night."

Lorelai waves her off as she sits up. "Don't worry about it. Jess here's a wonderful sit in."

Jess runs his hands down his face with a groan. "At this point, I'm starting to suspect you broke your wrist on purpose to get out of this torture. I've been seriously contemplating throwing myself off the roof just so I don't have to do this anymore."

Luke scoffs. "You guys love movies, it can't be that bad."

"It is." All three say.

"I'm gonna go join Jess on that roof, because if there's an award for bad movies, these all won it. And they aren't bad as in haha bad, it's more 'this is so bad I'm going to bash my head against a wall to make this end sooner' bad."

"I'd rather sit through a six hour lecture with Taylor than have to watch these movies." Jess chimes in with Lorelai.

Lorelai snaps her fingers. "Oh, I got one! I'd rather live with my parents for the rest of my life, than watch one of these movies."

"That's it, you two have got to be exaggerating." Luke says. Jess holds up a random sheet for him to take. Luke snatches it, then winces the further he reads on.

"Yes, they're all like that." Jess answers his unasked question.

"Jess, wanna take a break? You can sign my cast." Rory offers.

Jess jumps up without a word, going into the kitchen with Rory. Luke shakes his head, taking Jess's vacant seat.

"You little traitors! How dare you abandon me in my time of need!" Lorelai yells.

The two ignore her, in their own little world. "So, Jess has been with you the whole time?" Luke asks.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry about that. I should have called and let you know I was keeping him here for the foreseeable future." Lorelai apologizes.

"Nah, it's fine. He's a big kid, _he_ should have called and told me he wasn't making it back. I'm just surprised the two of you were in a room together for this long without blood being shed."

Lorelai shrugs. "He's not as bad as I thought he was. We had a talk earlier and decided on a truce."

Luke smirks. "So Rory and I were right. We told you the two of you would get along if you just gave each other a chance."

"Whatever." She says sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

In the kitchen, Jess grabs a marker off the table and begins to write around all the stickers. Rory cranes her head to see.

"No peeking."

"But-"

"You'll see when I'm done, jeez. And… there. Now you can look." Jess pulls back.

Rory's buzzing with excitement. She bends her arm back and starts to read out loud. "'Your favorite big bro, Dodger.'" She blinks at him. "You do know you're not _actually_ my brother, right? Now I'm going to have to explain to everyone at Chilton that I don't really have a secret brother."

Jess grins. "It's going to drive Paris insane."

Rory's jaw drops and Jess can tell she's trying not to laugh. "You are an evil person."

"C'mon, Rory, admit it, that's going to be hilarious."

She shakes her head. "Mean, mean, boy."

Jess scoffs. "Please, your life would be so boring without me."

Before Rory could answer, Lorelai comes running in. "Hey, kiddos, I vote we just go with _The Yearling_ and go get pie at Luke's."

"We just ate half of what's on Al's menu, how could you _possibly_ have room for pie?" Jess waves his arm at the living room.

"There is _always_ room for pie." Lorelai says, exasperated. "That is the second blasphemy you've spoken in this house today. You better watch what you say next, young man."

Jess raises his hands in surrender. "Oh, I'm so scared. What ever shall I do next?" Lorelai takes two fingers, giving him an 'I'm watching you' gesture as she leaves. Jess turns to Rory. "Your mother is insane."

Rory shrugs. "Hey, according to my cast, she's your mother too."

"I don't think a cast is a binding contract." Jess argues as they follow Luke and Lorelai out.

"It's in writing. Huge companies have been sold on a cocktail napkin before and that was legally binding." She points out.

"I didn't even sign it with my real name."

"But you do have very distinct handwriting." Jess rolls his eyes, running to catch up with the adults and away from Rory. "Hey! I was winning that argument, you can't just run away!"

Jess covers his ears. "Sorry, can't hear you!"

"Jess! Get back here! Jess!"


End file.
